Hours & Info

NEXT RACE:

This Sunday at 6:30pm(Unless otherwise noted to the right. Subject to change based on weather, track conditions, and driver attendance.)

SCHEDULE: We race every Summer Sunday and in late August, we switch to every Fall Saturday. When we have possible weather issues and/or driver scheduling conflicts, we will occasionally race on Fridays or Saturdays during Summer (and on rare occasions, weekdays). Due to our greenhouse, early summer we race after 6pm, but as the summer goes along, we can race in the late afternoon. Regular driver attendance will dictate the exact dates and times. Contact us for more info. Our Point Season Finale - our annual "Upstate New York Karters Invitational 200-Lap Galletta's Backyard Karting Speedway Klassic" is scheduled for a late September Saturday annually.

This season we raced Summer Fridays (with occasional Saturdays or Sundays). Date & time is subject to change due to driver availability (if we have more than 8 drivers, we race, if we don't, we'll re-schedule. With 23 karts on site, we don't run with less, as it isn't an accomplishment to race in or win anything less if you're an adult.).

Again, events may be preemptively re-scheduled or postponed due to weather and regular driver availability, but we NEVER miss a week of racing - unless we don't have enough drivers , so come on up! Spectators are free and racers donate nominally to the track and karts to race. Stay tuned, and navigate through our hundreds of race pages dating back to the 1990s and YouTube videos dating back to 2007!

COMPLETE RACE ARCHIVE (1995-2016)

That's right! Every single season since 1995, every "Klassic" since 2002, and very single points race and YouTube video we have since 2005 to now are ALL available to view for free right here!

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Past Season Archives

Race with us!

DONATIONS / FEES / RENTAL KARTS:
Arrive-and-drive karts may be rented. Rental donation is bare-bones, covering gas and parts wear only! Galletta's operates on a nominal "donation fees to keep the track ready and karts running. Anything you can donate to the track and karts helps. We also allow drivers to race with us provided they agree to sign a waiver, and the land owner allows recreational karts to run under the New York Recreational Use Statute.

We run 1-wheel-drive gas flathead motors with some racing enhancements all done on site.

Bring your own kart:
- $5 donation to enter your own kart (donation to Matt for his track work, donation waived if you bring multiple racers to rent). If Matt or Wes works on YOUR owned kart, please give him MORE than this $5 bare bones tip. It's worth it, as you will NOT find another karting division ANYWHERE where the top driver and mechanic will help you have a kart capable of beating them on any given race day for so little.We LOVE racing, and we sacrifice our own karts by helping our friends, relatives and total strangers to compete against us!

Galletta's Team Kart for Regular Event (40-70 laps):
We have over 15 arrive-and-drive karts on-site, all competitive feature winners and waiting for drivers to pilot them.
- Regular Driver / Returning Veteran: $20
- Newbie Driver / Rookie Driver: $25
Ask Matt about a full-year membership rental, or rent a kart with your own motor/drive system, which would be considerably less than weekly AND have that kart reserved for you every week.

Galletta's Team Kart for Regular Event (200 laps + qualifiers):
Klassic rental will be more. Contact Matt, as deals can be made, depending on how many laps you run and if you don't break the karts!

We can help you build your own Galletta's-style kart for only a few hundred dollars. From time to time, some drivers sell their Galletta's-style karts for $200-300 as well. You will NOT be able to spend that little on a competitive, feature-winning kart in any other karting division around. Period.

Spectators:
- Spectators are free to watch! (But stay safely away from the track!)
- Pose with a kart and be counted in our points race via 1 lap? Free! Just ask!

The above countdown is usually updated as soon as news breaks (rain-dates, postponements, reschedules, etc.), so pay attention to this sidebar.

If you have not raced with us before, you are welcome to join! We have many arrive-and-drive karts available, and you will not race with a more talented karting group, empirically proven on this website (and erased from the local pay track website because of how good of a show we put on for bottom dollar)! Even if just a lap to earn points, or race in a newbie qualifier... give it a shot. 99% of the time, people love it! 2014 will now have membership, which will help regular drivers race the full season. Contact us.

All karting classes (WKA Junior, WKA Medium, WKA Heavy, Gas 5hp/6.5hp, Open, and Champ) were recorded. You can buy the DVD to view all of the racing festivities to this week. At Oswego Kartway on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 had another full night of racing with many kart divisions (two WKA Juniors, WKA Mediums, WKA Heavy, Open, Gas Stocker & Champ). AND… FIGHT NIGHT AT OSWEGO SPEEDWAY!

First up, per usual, this website covers the karting class invented at Galletta’s Greenhouse in the early 1990s – the 1-WD Gas Stocker kart, the hybrid mix of a yard kart and a racing kart. Durable and affordable like a yard kart and fast and race-ready like a WKA kart. This week was a conundrum. the 5hp flathead Gas Stockers only having 4 able drivers in attendance, and the Gas 6.5hp OHV Outlaws only having 6 drivers, we took a page out of the WKA Juniors book and raced two races in one to make for a bigger and more exciting show, yet still get our own motor types separate points and wins. This is the only solution for the “right-turn” classes, as they have two vastly different motor types, but not a lot of people show up for race day today.

The heat was dual-won by Buddy Cottom (Galletta’s #7; 5hp) and Eric Raponi (in his #83; 6.5hp OHV). They were followed by Joe Hayden (2nd in 6.5hp), Missy Berry (3rd in 6.5hp), Dave Melfi (4th in 6.5hp), Matt Stevens (2nd in 5hp), Chris Stevens (3rd in 5hp), Oscar Berry (5th in 6.5hp), Peggy Melfi (6th in 6.5hp), and Russ Hockey (4th in 5hp) pulled off with a clogged carburetor. Raponi blew his drive-wheel tire on the last lap and the #83 had to sit for the night, so he used the Galletta’s #9 in the feature. Larry Phillips was in attendance after the heat, but he injured his eye while working on his kart and did not start the feature.

The feature saw lots of close, back-and-forth racing throughout. Missy Berry led most of the feature race and was challenged on every lap by Buddy Cottom before Missy spun, collecting Buddy and several karts crashed into them. Missy and Buddy had to go to the rear, and Joe Hayden led the rest of the way. The Feature was then dual-won by Joe Hayden (in his #5; 6.5hp OHV) and Chris Stevens (Galletta’s #8; 5hp).

Meanwhile (unlike the others who have 1-5 kart races that bore all but immediate family), the two gas motor classes agreed to get two shows out of the way at the same time and put on a good show, while other methanol classes didn’t quite show as much class and made some spectators leap onto the track! A fight broke out between the track operator, the families of some WKA-Junior drivers, and spectators who apparently were friends of the track operator! …

[2009 Update: After this incident, I was asked by track operator Jim Losurdo to not sell any DVD of this incident, nor put it on YouTube. Originally, I was not going to release this Oswego Speedway/Oswego Kartway fight video, and two versions of this week’s DVD were produced – one without it (done before he asked) and one with it (made after he asked). In fact, I did not release it for a full year and only a few people ever saw it. I had no intention to, and respected the wishes of the operator. However, I changed my mind due to the massive amounts of disrespect and threats directed towards us by people who were either drivers and/or officials at the track. Did I go back on my word? As a response for did they towards myself and everyone associated with us. How?

In January 2009, our 1-WD flathead class was banned from Oswego Kartway with no reasonable or legitimate explanations given, followed by mockery and name-calling from people who represent the Kartway. We were barred despite the following facts: (1) never having a fight; (2) always obeying all rules and never intentionally causing a wreck despite others that raced in our class not doing the same; (3) never having a potentially serious accident; (4) between three full seasons in 2006, 2007 and 2008 – documented on this website and our DVDs – bringing an entire class of paying customers almost every week – which was between 5-15 karts every single week and each and every one paying full entry fee prices; (5) self-policing ourselves very well; (6) providing full race videos – two angles of every race; (7) giving free promotion to the Oswego Kartway for three full years on our website, our business, and word-of-mouth; (8) creating a logo and website banner for their website – which the webmaster and track operator agreed to pay me for, never did, used it for one whole season on their website, Speedway publications stickers and trophies – then replaced it with a new one right after I requested payment.

Only two reasons were given for our class being barred. (1) Steve Gioia said we aren’t covered by their insurance – later retracted; (2) we did not attend a January 2009 meeting in Oswego in the middle of a snowstorm and with (a) Matt and his wife out of town bowling; (b) Chris and his wife celebrating their anniversary; (c) we found out on short notice, asked around, and could not get replacement people to represent us (d) we had attended these meetings only one year before – 2008 – where stock rules were agreed to – gas 5.0hp flatheads were allowed only shaved heads and all other parts had to be box stock and gas 6.5hp OHVs had to be box stock, no race parts or shaved heads, but the track operator then intentionally sold the 6.5hp OH karts Gas Animal parts because he hated Matt and Chris for the fact that they win a lot (and why wouldn’t they with 15-20 years experience racing karts and most of the others only had 0-5 years experience???). Then, the track operator and a few friends decided to mock and threaten the Galletta’s Karting Club – especially founders Matt and Chris – for almost a whole year on two webboards and probably more. The fact was that the track operator – a confirmed cheat, belligerent to advice or constructive criticism, incapable of having rational, calm discussions, and one who went back on his word to keep our class gas stock and sold race parts to some of the people racing in our class – booted us out because he did not personally like us and this website’s reporting of the facts (good or bad) – and he cut us make room for a 2-WD clone class. That’s it. The character of the way the track is operated is dishonest and nobody in the Galletta’s Kart club would spend the time and money needed to make our class 2-WD clone. Our class was created to be an affordable alternative to organized karting, and we have accomplished that for around a decade and a half now. We still stay the way we are and race on our own backyard speedway and tracks who allow us to run our 1-WD gas stockers. The entire factual story is re-capped here. Now, back to the race.]

The entire video is around 2 hours, 16:9 Anamorphic widescreen video, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Surround, and two camera angles of all of the action. Price $5.

This is why I personally believe that putting kids in $3,000-$6,000 go-karts set up to go 30-70mph is a risky idea and smaller kids should probably run limited box stock until they are old enough to take the speeds and potentially punishing wrecks. But, that’s just me. I’ll leave it at that, as this website specializes in the Galletta’s Kart Club (18-and-up club, although we’d open a regulated gas stocker club for kids with interest), we’ll cover the Gas Stocker/”Super Yard Kart” portion of the event below:

2008 Gas Stocker Kart Point Standings at Oswego Kartway After 10 events at Oswego Kartway from 5/8/2007 -thru- 8/7/2008
[This points total does not include 6.5hp exclusive races, nor the one race with all 6.5hps except Matt in a 5hp. The 6.5hp racers have a separate points race that we don’t have on record]:

NOTE: This points total does not include 6.5hp-exclusive races, nor the one race with all 6.5hps except Matt in 5hp. The 6.5hp racers have a separate points race that we currently don’t have on record. I wouldn’t know how to combine both totals feasibly, although technically it could be possible, though the 6.5hps have raced one more race than the 5hps.

2008 5hp Gas Stocker Point Standings of Oswego County, NY After 16 combined events at bothGalletta’s and Oswego Kartway from 5/8/2007 -thru- 8/7/2008. Each track has separate points series on each week’s page. This is the 2-track total points series:

Rank

Name & Karts Piloted(5hp flathead stock unless otherwise noted. This points total does not include several 6.5hp-exclusive races at Oswego.)

* = NOTE: This points total does not include 6.5hp-exclusive races at Oswego, nor the one race with all 6.5hps except Matt in a 5hp. The 6.5hp racers have a separate points race that we currently don’t have on record. I wouldn’t know how to combine both totals feasibly, although technically it could be possible, though the 6.5hps have raced one more race than the 5hps.

Welcome! We are a Karting Club that races affordable “Gas stocker” karts for a Points championship every summer at Galletta’s Greenhouse Backyard Kartway and a Gas Stocker division at Oswego Speedway‘s Clay Kartway. Please read on and learn more about our extremely affordable brand of highly competitive racing!

The Galletta’s Go-Karting Club was founded by brothers Matt and Chris Stevens in the early 1990s when they modified yard karts for racing purposes. They are the inventors of “clockwise 5hp flathead gas stocker kart” racing, and have a 13-kart race team that includes several backup karts available to be rented and raced at both Galletta’s and Oswego Speedway all summer. Invented with specifically “gas stock 5hp motor” rules so that a person doesn’t have to spend thousands of dollars to race in extremely competitive racing events, the class grows in talent and competition every single year. Join us by building your own kart for around $500 or rent one of our team karts on Summer Thursdays or Summer Sundays in Oswego, NY!The Oswego Gas Stocker Kart Club races at Galletta’s GreenhouseKartway & Oswego SpeedwayKartway.Due to the fact that the karts are so affordable and the oldest veterans have been racing for nearly two decades, it is one of the most difficult karting divisions to win at. You can’t outspend your opponent due to our gas-powered stock-only rule, so you must out-race them and out-setup them. In fact, nobody has ever defeated Matt & Chris in the open challenge: race a stock 5hp flathead and stop them from scoring 1st & 2nd in a points season. Though hundreds of people have tried in hundreds of races since the early 1990s, Chris and Matt have scored 1 & 2 every year. Prove your skills against the winningest karters in the local area AND you won’t even have to spend a lot of money to get started!We dare you to try! Sound like fun? Read on, explore the website, and join us!

Sponsored by and Located behind:

Galletta's Backyard Go-Kart Speedway is a free-to-race-on and free-to-watch 0.133887 mile dirt oval with 20-degree banked turns . It is located behind Galletta's Greenhouse in Oswego, NY, and can be seen from outer space! The single-wheel-drive gasoline-fueled flathead motor karts take the track between 15-17 seconds per lap which averages over 30 mph (approximately 45-50 mph top speed in the straights). Our speeds are comparable to alcohol/methanol-fueled karts that cost 8 times as much because we use mostly homemade or rebuilt go-karts and gas on a large track; leading to more karts, more competition, and more fun. Our class is usually the largest and most competitive in the area. Thanks to Google Earth for this Spring 2006 photo. Our karting club's home track is located in back of: